Tuesday, 10 June 2014

Article

In MG the noun has three endings for genders, viz masculine, feminine and neuter. In order to determine the gender of a substantive we may look at the ending of a Greek word, for example:

when a word ends on «-ος», «-ας»- or «-ης» it is probably masculine.

ending on «-η» and «-α » it is probably feminine.

ending on «-ο», «-ι» or «-μα» it is probably neuter.

Fortunately, the substantives in Greek, almost always are accompanied by an article. The article tells us the gender of the substantive. The presence or absence of an article will change the sense of the sentence. The absence of an article is related to the property of the substantive.

The Modern Greek articles are characterized as either definite or indefinite.

The definite article has a singular and plural form

Singular - ενικός αριθμός

Cases

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

1st case

ο

η

το

2nd case

του

της

του

4th case

το(ν)

τη(ν)

το

Plural - πληθυντικός αριθμός

Cases

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

1st case

οι

οι

τα

2nd case

των

των

των

4th case

τους

τις

τα

The indefinite article in singular a is used.(It harmonizes in all genders in form with the number one, but not in meaning.)

Singular - ενικός αριθμός

Cases

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

1stcase

ένας

μια, μία

ένα

2nd case

ενός

μιας, μίας

ενός

4th case

ένα(ν)

μια(ν), μία(ν)

ένα

The indefinite article is used when we describe a person or object with no specific identification.

The indefinite article is in singular.

Occasionally the stressed «μία» is used for the feminine singular form instead of «μια». These two form only differ in pronunciation, not in meaning. Two examples in which it is used:

μια κατάσταση - one situation

μόνο μία κατάσταση - only one situation

For extended information about the the article look at: Learning Modern GreekA few churches in Naxos: